THE HAIRY ARMADILLO 



(Dasyfius villosus) 



BEING frequently brought to Europe in captivity, the Hairy Armadillo 

 is the best known of its family (Dasypodidce\ which are distinguished, 

 not only from all other Edentates, but all beasts of any sort, by their 

 peculiar jointed cuirass of bony plates, formed by the deposition of 

 bone in the skin of the upper parts. 



This forms two great shields on the fore-parts and hind-quarters 

 respectively, with several bands filling up the intervening space, and 

 allowing of the necessary flexibility of the body ; the tail is covered by 

 rings of plates, at any rate at the base. In the present species many 

 hairs appear at the joints of the plates, and the under-surface of the 

 body also shows a good many, although they are so scanty that the 

 general effect is much like that of the sparsely-bristled skin of an old fowl 

 when plucked, leaving the hair-like feathers known as " filoplumes." The 

 body of the Armadillo is peculiarly broad and flat, and as the legs are 

 very short, with their basal joints not projecting from the body, the 

 whole effect is rather tortoise-like. There are five toes on all the feet, all 

 clawed, the claws on the three outer front toes being particularly strong. 



The teeth are about three dozen in all, and very simple and uniform 

 in structure, like pegs : there are none in the front of the mouth, as 

 in Edentates generally. The tongue is long and narrow, and can be 

 protruded some distance out of the mouth, showing a slight tendency 

 to the worm-like type of tongue so characteristic of the Ant-eaters. 

 In length the beast measures about two feet, but is surprisingly heavy 

 and solidly built for its size. 



The Hairy Armadillo, which is very closely related to the Six- 

 handed Armadillo of Brazil, also a well-known species, is found in 

 Argentina, and its habits on the Pampas have been admirably de- 

 scribed by Mr. W. H. Hudson. He points out how curious it is that 

 this comparatively slow and lowly organised creature is able t;o main- 

 tain its existence in the face of the encroachments of civilisation, to 

 which higher animals succumb; and to this we may find a parallel 



147 



